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Mahiru’s tired.
That’s all that’s running through her mind, repeating endlessly. So tired, so tired, so tired . She leans back into the bus seat, letting her heavy eyelids win and closes her eyes.
An entire day running around for photography appointments, running to her classes, and aiding Hiyoko in setting up one of her shows — don’t get her wrong, she loves helping Hiyoko, but by the time she was finished, her legs were sore and the soles of her feet were killing her.
And it wasn’t even close to evening, at all! She had checked the time before stepping onto the public bus, it was only 4:45 PM.
“Next Stop: Crescent Street.” The bus announces, disrupting Mahiru’s near drift-off to sleep.
“Finally,” she mutters to herself as she straightens herself, adjusting her camera on her lap.
The bus turns a corner and draws to a slow stop. Its doors swing open and Mahiru pulls herself out from her seat and climbs off the bus, ignoring her aching legs. As the bus doors close and the public transit pulls away, she turns a 180 to view the street. Across it was her destination; Crescent Lane - A nice, small and cozy coffee shop she frequented, for coffee, and to give her boyfriend a nice visit; two things she most definitely needs right about now.
She crosses the street and as she approaches, the door swings open. “No, dude! Was that the bus to Uni?” Kazuichi blurts out.
“That’s the one headed away from the university, Souda,” Mahiru informs. “God, you’d know if you checked the bus timetables, the one headed to the university comes in. . .” she pulls out her phone. 5:05 PM. “Ten minutes.”
Kazuichi lets out a relieved sigh and his shoulders drop. “Thank God,” he mutters. “Heheh. . . I don’t know how Gundham’d react if I missed another bus.”
“He’d probably also tell you to keep track of the bus timetables,” Mahiru huffs.
He opens his mouth to speak but he quickly shuts it, biting back on whatever comment he had. “Right, uh. . . see ya, Koizumi, heh heh. . .” he forces out one of his awkward laughs and scurries off across the street.
“Wrong side, Souda!”
“Crap! You’re totally right!”
Mahiru only lets out a lethargic sigh and wanders into the cafe, the door chiming a bell to alert the employee of her arrival. As she sets foot into the coffee shop, she’s welcome to the aromatic and alluring smell of freshly brewed coffee, warm-toned lighting and soft lofi music playing on the speakers. It brings a smile to her face, already lightening her sour mood.
But what really gets her smiling is the sight of her boyfriend, Hajime Hinata with a big grin on his lips, waiting to greet her.
She sits down on one of the counter stools and Hajime wastes no time in sliding over to her, resting his arms on the counter. “Good evening, Mahiru,” he greets her personally.
“Still an hour before evening time, Hajime,” she shoots back.
That earns her a chuckle from him, a warm-hearted and soft one. It melts her heart, admittedly. “Medium french vanilla latte?” he guesses.
“Large,” she exhaustedly corrects as she pulls out a couple of yen to pay.
Hajime’s eyes widen at the change but all he does is smile and nod. “Long day?” he asks as he turns to make her order.
“Hey, I didn’t—” she opens her mouth to protest but he cranes his neck over his shoulder, raising a finger to his lips to shush her. She blinks before realising, stuffing her money back into her pocket.
“So, how was your long day?” he asks, less out of curiosity and more out of concern.
“Stressful,” is the only way Mahiru could describe it. “I had my class early this morning, then I had to run across the city for a photography session - of which, I only managed to grab a sandwich and juice box for lunch in between - and if that wasn’t enough, the client wanted me to do multiple sets! I mean, I know I’m the Ultimate Photographer and all but honestly. . .”
Hajime slides over a white disposable coffee cup and Mahiru grabs it without a second thought, “Isn’t that a little much?” She lets out a soft sigh. “I swear, these assignments and their clients are slowly getting out of hand. . . OH! And, I had to then run back to make it in time to help out Hiyoko! And I was running late too because my client kept me for a little longer!”
As she rambles and rants about her busy day, Hajime digs through his pockets and pulls out the change needed to pay for the french vanilla latte Mahiru loved so much. He pushes the register back in and tosses the receipt just as Mahiru finishes off her rant about setting up Hiyoko’s performance. “You’d do anything for her, huh?”
“What kind of question is that?” Mahiru wrinkles her nose, a little offended, “Of course I would! She’s my best friend, Hajime, I can’t just bail on her.”
A laugh leaves his lips and he smiles at her. “I saw some of her performance online during break, it looked beautiful,” he says, “You and her team worked hard on it, I can tell.” He takes a glance at the time and notices his shift is ending in a mere few minutes. Tapping the countertop with his hands, he stands up straight. “My shift is almost over, you seem like you need a break from today. My house?” he offers.
It’s then Mahiru finally notices the to-go cup instead of the usual white ceramic cups. “Wait, you were planning this,” she replies. But she can’t be mad. Instead a smile grows on her lips and that exhaustion in her eyes disappears, “. . . Sure.”
Hajime only gives her a smile before disappearing into the back. During which, his colleague enters and hurries off into the back also, likely getting ready. Mahiru holds the latte cup in her hands, letting the hot beverage warm her hands, taking sips idly as she waits for Hajime. It doesn’t take him long to pop back out from the back, out of the company-assigned green apron.
She slides off the counter stool as he approaches her, he leans in, pecking her cheek softly. The two head for the door and she keeps her eyes low on the cup of coffee in her hands. “Thanks for the coffee,” she smiles warmly at it.
“Anything for you,” he replies, which only gets him an elbow in the side; no matter how many times she tells him how much she hates that cheesy stuff, he still says it from time to time.
The two make it to his car easily and Mahiru exhales with relief as she leans back into the passenger seat. She rests her head against the headrest and stares up at the bland grey ceiling of Hajime’s car.
A hand lands onto her knee and she jerks a bit, turning her head to Hajime. He gives her a warm smile, “No sleeping yet. You can pass out all you’d like when we get to my place,” he assures.
“Fine, fine,” she agrees with a stifled yawn. Instead of closing her eyes just as she wished, she brought her cup close to her lips and took a long sip, hoping the caffeine would keep her awake until then.
The drive to Hajime’s is short, nothing longer than 20 minutes, and yet, Mahiru’s fighting off her exhaustion throughout it. It doesn’t help whenever Hajime rubs her knee soothingly whenever they approach a redlight, it only aids in her tiredness, luring her into the idea of sleep.
Thankfully, they pull up into his driveway just before she drifts off into sleep, her cup of coffee now empty. As Mahiru steps out of the car, Hajime can’t help but laugh. “You look cute when tired,” he comments. It only gets him a pout from her as she scurries off to his front door. He hurries after her and unlocks his front door, opening it for her.
“You’ve cleaned up. . .” she says softly as she enters, kicking off her black sneakers. She places them on the shoe rack before heading further into the tidy place. She quickly tosses her cup into the trash.
“Well, I thought of inviting you over today. . . Thought I’d clean up any messes I had,” Hajime replies as he walks off towards the back, where his room is.
The two plops down onto the bed, falling into a sea of comforters and soft blankets, all smelling of a soft jasmine scent. It whisks Mahiru away back into a tired dazed state and rips another yawn from her. Hajime slides an arm around her, pulling her close to him as he turns on his TV. “Shouldn’t this be in your living room?” she asks as he turns on Netflix.
“Eh, I use it more often in here,” he answers as he puts on one of their background shows. He tosses the remote and swings his arm around Mahiru. “You want a blanket?”
She shakes her head. “No, I’ll be fine, it’s cozy here…”
Hajime nods. His hand soothingly rubs up and down her shoulder and bicep, enticing another yawn from Mahiru. She adjusts herself in his grasp, getting herself comfortable as she snuggled up into him. He smiles warmly as it doesn’t take long for her to flutter her eyes shut.
“Hey Hajime,” she mutters softly, a soft tint to her cheeks. He hums. “. . . Thanks for this. . .”
“I didn’t do much, though,” he says.
“I know,” she replies. She swings her arms around him and brings him into a tight embrace. “But really, that’s all I needed. . .”
He brings his hand to her head and exhales through his nose as he gazes down at her. He lowers his head briefly and plants a soft kiss onto her forehead. “I love you.”
That brings Mahiru’s blush from faint to heavy. “I love you too, Hajime. . .”
She took a deep breath and exhaled softly, letting her mind drift off into some much needed sleep. She didn’t care if it was 5:30 in the afternoon, or that this nap would mess up her sleep schedule — she could fix it later. All that matters is that she had Hajime, snuggled up on his bed as they relaxed after a long day.